The World We Make

Good Monday morning, my dear friends! I had not anticipated that two weeks ago when I posted to wish you a Happy Easter  that I would be away as long as I have, but to be honest, I desperately needed it!  I won't go into a lot of detail, only to say that shortly before Easter I received some difficult news and it's taken me a bit to process my emotions surrounding it. That, and I also ended up making an unplanned trip to spend a few days with my daughter and her husband that turned into a 10 day trip, and well, there you have it!  All that to say, I feel the fog is finally beginning to lift and I'm ready to rejoin you in this space!

One thing I did want to say is that I think I have finally come to the place where I am able to admit that setting up any sort of reading challenge or reading schedule here at my blog NEVER works out! There, I've said it! It always sounds so good on paper, but then . . . . life, and before I realize it I've fallen behind and I find myself struggling to keep up with the weekly posts and recaps, so unless I can ever truly get my act together, you'll never see me hosting another read-along in this space again, at least not one with any regularity!  That's not to say I won't be reading or sharing about what I read with you here, but inviting you to join me and thinking for a moment that I can actually keep some sort of schedule, it just never works!  I also did not sense much enthusiasm for my suggested summer read along of the Beatrix Potter Mystery series, Cottage Tales and watching Marple, so I've decided against it.  If you were one of the two enthusiastic souls that were looking forward to, I encourage you to spend your summer thus engaged, and perhaps, so will I, I may even write about it here and there, just don't hold me to it! :) However, I do plan to continue with my weekly series Homemaking Mondays, which will begin on Monday, May 4! 

Which brings us to today, and today I thought I would leave you with this lovely poem I recently came across.  I hope you will enjoy it! :)

❊ The World We Make

We make the world in which we live

By what we gather and what we give,

By our daily deeds and the things we say,

By what we keep or we cast away.

We make our world by the beauty we see

In a skylark’s song or a lilac tree,

In a butterfly’s wing, in the pale moon’s rise,

And the wonder that lingers in midnight skies.

We make our world by the life we lead,

By the friends we have, by the books we read,

By the pity we show in the hour of care,

By the loads we lift and the love we share.

We make our world by the goals we pursue,

By the heights we seek and the higher view,

By hopes and dreams that reach the sun

And a will to fight till the heights are won.

What is the place in which we dwell,

A hut or a palace, a heaven or hell

We gather and scatter, we take and we give,

We make our world — and there we live.

- ALFRED GRANT WALTON

❊